title: Differences in lower extremity stiffness between endurance-trained athletes and untrained subjects.
abstract: An understanding of lower extremity stiffness is important for evaluation of sports performance and injury prevention. The aim of this study was to investigate whether stiffness regulation during hopping differed between endurance-trained athletes and untrained subjects. Eight endurance-trained athletes and eight untrained subjects performed two-legged hopping at 2.2 Hz. We determined leg and joint stiffness of hip, knee and ankle from kinetic and kinematics data. The endurance-trained athletes demonstrated significantly higher leg stiffness than untrained subjects. Further, the differences in leg stiffness were attributable to differences in ankle and knee joint stiffness. This study demonstrates a possibility that endurance training, like power training, increases leg and joint stiffness.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Japan. hobara@rehab.go.jp
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hobara
authors.forename: Kozo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Omuro
authors.forename: Kouki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gomi
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Muraoka
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanosue
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005080:Exercise Test; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology; D014495:Universities; D014741:Video Recording; D055815:Young Adult